Paris Apartments

The Morrison Hotel Mystery

The death of Jim Morrison is not the only mystery in the Rue Beautreillis. On this street where the leader of The Doors spent the last few months of his life and where he (probably) died, another door stands curiously alone. But what is it?

The last bastion standing

Today only one significant element of the city’s 19th century fortifications remains standing. Where is the Bastion n°1 and what purpose does it serve today?

The World's Oldest Surviving Basketball Court

How did a game invented by the YMCA in America cross the Atlantic in the late 19th century, and why has this Paris court survived so long?

The Longest Street in Paris

An attempt to find the soul of the city's longest thoroughfare.

Belgium by the Seine

A trip to Elisabethville on the trace of old postcard locations leads me to abandoned beach resorts and experimental 1950s architecture.

Monday, 30 December 2013

Following last week’s list of the most popular articles this year, here are the five articles I personally enjoyed producing. Visitor numbers were not quite so high for these, so if you have not done so far, please click on the links and read the stories!I hope that next year I will still be able to publish such a list and not just simply reproduce the only 5 posts of the year! The list is in no particular order.

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Back again due to popular request (ie to satisfy my own curiosity) the annual list of the top five most-read posts on Invisible Paris. Come back next week for a list of my 5 personal favourite posts this year (which strangely enough – like last year – bears no resemblance to the list of most read articles). Keeping with tradition, I have also added a few notes for each post to explain why I chose the subject, why I think it worked and how the story developed. I was also happy to note that reader numbers for the articles were a good percentage higher than the top 5 from last year. If my output is declining, I’m glad to see that my audience remains interested in what I do manage to produce!

Friday, 20 December 2013

The life and work of Auguste Perret, one of the most important 20th century architects in France and Paris, is currently being celebrated in an exhibition that runs until February 19th 2014. As an added bonus, the exhibition is being held inside one of his own buildings, the fantastic - and still quite secretive - Palais d'Iéna.